"Is this a Trojan horse?" Kganyago said. "If it leads to a point that there's that debate about the mandate of the bank and the independence of the Reserve Bank – check what happened with Turkey, check what happened in Argentina, check what happened in Venezuela. If you want an African example, check what happened in Zimbabwe."
"Should they interfere with our independence, they've got a fight on their hands," he said.
The maximum price over the past six months for a Reserve Bank share, which is available over the counter since they delisted in 2002, has been R10. Investors share a maximum dividend payout of R200,000 a year.
'Horrible investment'
The stock is a "horrible investment," according to shareholder Dawie Roodt, the chief economist at financial services company Efficient Group Ltd. He bought his shares more than two decades ago because they allow him access to the central bank's annual meetings, where he can speak to its managers, Roodt said.
Previous governors had an acrimonious relationship with some shareholders. Tito Mboweni accused one of disrespect in 2009 when the barefoot investor dressed in lederhosen, a traditional Bavarian garment, disrupted his AGM.
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During Kganyago's four years at the helm, those gatherings have become duller affairs that last less than an hour. If the government does become the sole owner of the bank, the meetings could be over in minutes, he said.
The central bank would prefer to leave things as they are. Should nationalisation take place, Kganyago won't give up the nation's assets or allow tinkering with the mandate.
"If there's a dispute over these things, you can rest assured that we will have protracted fights in the courts," he said. "Arbitration can rule either way, but the legal costs associated with that are going to be massive, there's no doubt about that."